Black Friday coming earlier each year

The average American spent $407 on Black Friday in 2013, with overall sales reaching an estimated $57.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

Christmas music is already playing at local malls and it's not even Thanksgiving yet, showing that the trend of starting Christmas shopping early is continuing this holiday season.

More stores nationwide are turning Black Friday into Black Thursday.

The days of Black Friday are apparently over, with retailers competing to be the first to open their doors, as the day after Thanksgiving ritual appears to be a thing of the past.

The trend caught on in 2011 when stores like Walmart, Sears and Target starting competing with one another. They wanted to see how shoppers responded and studies show it's a catching on.

Now there is a host of stores maximizing the Christmas holiday shopping season, many who have already released their holiday hours:

- Walmart and Toys "R" Us are opening at 8pm Thanksgiving night.- Sears and Target are opening at 9 pm Thanksgiving night- Macys, HH Gregg, Best Buy and Kohls will open up at midnight on Friday after Thanksgiving.

Some shoppers say this takes the fun out of Thanksgiving and spending time with family.

"Honestly with the holidays, it's out of hand," shopper David Whatley said. "It started in October. It seems like the holidays are three months long. Even with it rolling back early, I'll roll it forward. I'll go on black Sunday or black Monday."

But other shoppers say it it's a sign of the times.

"It's showing how the world is going commercial," shopper Walter Donaldson said. "The economy is kind of jacked up so it's showing how you have to make a dollar. We'll see how it goes."

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